Coherent control of the Goos-Hanchen shift

Abstract

The behavior of the Goos-Hanchen (GH) shifts in the reflected and transmitted light beam which is incident on a cavity containing an intracavity medium of three-level or four-level atoms with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is discussed. We report a coherent control of the GH shift in a fixed configuration or device via superluminal and subluminal wave propagation. For superluminal wave propagation, we observe negative GH shifts in the reflected part of the incident light whereas the shifts are positive in the transmitted light beam. This corresponds to the negative group index of the cavity in the former case and positive group index of the cavity in the latter. For subluminal wave propagation, the behavior of the GH shifts in the reflected light changes and positive shifts appear

however, the GH shifts in the transmitted light remains positive. The corresponding group index of the cavity is positive in both cases.